Fraser River Sockeye Fisheries and Fisheries Management - Cohen ...

ProcessorsThe number of companies in the processing sector has varied somewhat with theeconomic performance of the fishery and has ranged as high 39 in 1985 (Link et al.2003). In 2009, 13 major processors operated in the Bay and accounted for 99.5% of thesockeye purchased (ADF&G 2009). Typically over half of the fish are processed inshoreside processing plants, with floating processing vessels accounting for about 20-25% of the catch in recent years. Products include headed and gutted, fillets, and canned.The shoreside processors are supplied fish via company-specific tendering fleets, and to alesser extent, direct deliveries.Tougher economic times in the fishery in recent years have contributed to occasionalshortfalls in processing capacity, which has sometimes curbed harvest rates at the peak ofthe season. Processors face significant financial losses if they gear up with unused orunderutilized processing capacity in the Bay. However, limits to capacity havecontributed to daily catch limits for fishermen or suspended buying at times during highcatchperiods. Oftentimes limits have the effect of simply altering the catch amongindividuals but at other times, limits or suspensions to buying have resulted inescapement exceeding escapement goals in some rivers. The latter has created the issueof “foregone harvest” and this has been source of considerable debate in the fishery inrecent years (BB-RSDA 2008).ADF&G surveys processors each year prior to the season to determine daily and seasonalcapacity in an effort to identify and mitigate any significant shortfalls in processingcapacity. For example, for the 2009 season ADF&G (2009) reported that the 13processors were prepared to handle up to 1.8 million fish per day and around 31 millionfish overall during the season. Even though the total season processing capacity isusually larger than the annual harvest, limits may still be imposed when daily catchesexceed daily capacity, which is often due to the compressed nature of the run timing.Regardless of the contribution from the vagaries of the compressed run timing andweather, all fish above mid-point of the escapement goal range are considered by manyas foregone harvest, which as defined, resulted in 4.3 to 7.5 million fish annually(average of 6.2) from 2003 to 2008 (BB-RSDA 2008). Limits to processing capacitycontribute only a portion to this “excess” escapement. A substantial portion of the quotedforegone harvest can be attributed to the Naknek-Kvichak district where managers mustmanage three stocks in a common fishing area. For the years addressed by the RSDAstudy, weak-stock (Kvichak) management led to high escapements to the Naknek andAlagnak.134